INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/RICHARD REYES
Three million or about 13.5 percent of Filipino families experienced hunger last quarter, the lowest figure recorded in the last decade by the Social Weather Stations (SWS).
The results of the SWS poll, published by BusinessWorld, showed a 3.7-point drop in the degree of involuntary hunger experienced by Filipinos (from 17.2 percent or about 3.8 million families in December 2014).
SWS measures hunger as an ‘involuntary suffering’ due to the lack of food to eat.
The survey, with sampling error margins of ±3 for national percentages and ±6 for each of the geographical areas—Metro Manila, Balance of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao—was conducted from March 20 to 23.
The 13.5 percent figure is the lowest in a decade. It was back in May 2005 when 12 percent of SWS respondents said they experienced involuntary hunger.
READ: SWS: Hungry Filipino families surge to 4.8M | 15M PH kids hungry–Poe
Of the 1,200 respondents, 2.4 percent or 522,000 families said they experienced “severe hunger” (“often” or “always” had nothing to eat) while 11.1 percent or 2.5 million families said they had nothing to eat “only once” or “a few times” in the last three months.
Both figures were lower compared to last quarter’s results – 4.1 percent for “severe hunger” and 13.2 percent for “moderate hunger.”
The hunger rate across all geographical areas also dropped.
About 1.4 million families (14.3 percent) from the rest of Luzon said they experienced hunger, down from 1.8 million families (18.3 percent) in December. This was followed by Mindanao with 14.3 percent or 726,000 families (down from 17.3 percent or 867,000 families) and Visayas with 11 percent or 470,000 families (down from 16.4 percent or 690,000 families). Meanwhile, the hunger rate in Metro Manila slid from 14.7 percent (438,000 families) in December to only 12.7 percent (382,000 families) in March.
According to another survey earlier released by SWS, fewer Filipino families consider themselves food-poor (36 percent in March, down from 41 percent in December). IDL
READ: 11.4M families remain poor – SWS poll